Ds340-e

[10e]

Swapped out the video card backplate to Gold(member), and added the Darkside RGB lighting strip up top. I soldered a fan cable to the inside of the white control box to connect it to my new 8-port PWM fan hub sitting under the PSU shroud. I hid the "RGB" cable in the front of the case beside the radiator.

These cases are very plain looking even though they have that shiny metal finish, but once you put a rig in them they tend to show it off quite nicely, and make for almost a showcase look. Maybe I should just call it "showcase" haha.

With the CPU at 4.3Ghz undervolted by a 0.01 volt offset, and the GPU overvolted by +35 millivolt the CPU is at 4.3Ghz Prime95 stable for 12 hours and the GPU sits all day at 1.235Ghz/6.0Ghz memory and the CPU never hits 60 on any core and the GPU at 45-48 celsius with the front fans at 1000 RPM.

I swapped out the front Noctua 3000 RPM Industrial fans. At low RPM their motors are just too "clicky" or whiny and they've been replaced by the Phanteks PH-F140MP fans which are amazing in terms of static pressure versus RPM. They push a lot of air through this massive 85mm thick radiator. I also changed the back SilenX Effizio yellow 120mm fan for a Corsair SP120, which running at 1200 RPM is great in this application.

Just modded sleeved GPU cables to change out and this one is DUN.

Some photos. My apologies for the reflections:

With the Darkside RGB strip in "purple" mode



Side panel off and DS RGB strip in White mode:

[bungwirez]

Excellent 10e. amazing how well you crammed all that kit in there so neatly!

[snef]

great and impressive

you put a lot of stuff in very smale case and you did it very great

[Izerous]

I'm really starting to like the hard tubing look.

[10e]

Thanks guys. I've learned a lot from all your incredible builds.

I changed out the PCI-E cables to the Cable mod black/yellow sleeved set for the Corsair AX760i PSU so I'll take a photo of that later. It's very nice cabling, but I'd agree with BungZ that it frays a little bit easier than I'd like, as it is the soft, non nylon type sleeving, it's more like the fabric type of sleeving.

Of course after I ordered the sleeved cables, I found my 4mm yellow sleeving that I bought from Daz ages ago. Figures hehe.

How are those "air breather" stop plugs? I might put a couple on the top of the Monsta rad to enable air to bleed over time. It's almost fully bled, but if I move the computer I can hear a bit of water sloshing around which tells me that it's not fully 100% bled.

Thanks!

[Hero1]

That's tight man and you made it work. Phew, I'd be nervous to work with that little room.

[10e]

That's tight man and you made it work. Phew, I'd be nervous to work with that little room.

Thanks Hero. De-riveting the top panel helped. If you look at the last few shots you can see the button cap hex screws that replaced them at the top. Had I not done this I think I would have had a lot of trouble measuring out the bends for the acrylic tubing. I also would have needed a fill port drilled out at the top, and that matte paint is very hard to replicate.

I have this case in white too and I might replace the top with matte acrylic to add a 240mm radiator up top one day. No Monsta radiator in the front though next time, though a 360mm in the front would work with a bit of cutting, removing the front 3.5" disk cage, and a bit of bending of one fold.

[10e]

Basically done.

Last few items:

-Bought some Cablemod c-series cables to finish off the cabling
-Bought the last R9-290 gold backplate from Daz
-Changed the top of the reservoir to a three port Multi Cap-Z to allow filling and breathing without removing the top of the S340 and two more Darkside pluggers.
-Painted the SP120 white ring yellow, and it's drying in the garage
-Added XSPC V2 yellow LCD temperature sensor

Last item I'll probably be adding a WD black 3.5" drive in the lower basement drive cages. The Cablemod cables have nice SATA power cables, they are all 180 degrees so no worrying about getting them pinched. I might try my hand at cable lacing as all the cable combs are too big for these cables that seem to be 3mm sleeving, not 4mm. Oh well.

This Monsta radiator is a beast. Honestly I wished I had bought another. In push-only Delta-T with the video card at 1.2Ghz and the CPU at 4.4Ghz is something like 7-8 degrees with the front fans at 1100 RPM and the back SP120 at 1200 RPM, and the loudest thing under load is the 3.1T pump at full speed. Very happy over all with the performance of this setup for a nice, compact ATX system.

[DazMode]

Gold backplate looks really nice.

[Grinder]

Turned out really nice 10e Very clean, lots of nice touches, a professional job.

Just think, if this was a file server you could call it your Golden Retriever

[Moogly]

very nice, love the color !!!

[bungwirez]

killer stuff 10e.

cablemods is good stuff if you have the right PSU

[10e]

Ha ha Grinder!

I ordered the Cablemod cable combs from PPC with their cheap shipping option to help clean up the cables. I like the quality and I'm not quite willing (at this time) to spend $150-$200 on an ensourced set.